


warm as silk

by jillyfae



Category: Code: Realize
Genre: Epilogue, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 02:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13044270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jillyfae/pseuds/jillyfae
Summary: Happily ever after is a choice, made step by step every day.An epilogue set immediately post-game.





	warm as silk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kazesuke](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kazesuke/gifts).



Their private party was magical, and not a soul noticed them. They danced 'til the music faded, and the sky was too hazy for stars, and even Steel London was quiet all around them. Cardia kept her eyes open as Van Helsing lifted her down, and his face, edged in light and shadow, looking up at her as he held her, was as beautiful as the view from the rooftop had been.

He offered her his arm, and she tucked her hand around his elbow, and didn't even try and stop the half-a-skip in her step from happiness.

"Thank you, Van."

He glanced down at her, the look in his eyes soft and warm, but the barest hint of something else in the lift of the corner of his mouth. It seemed happy, whatever it was, so she leaned against his arm, and looked around the quiet streets as they walked home.

It was so nice to have a home.

"I have one more surprise for you."

Cardia turned back toward Van, following the echo of the door he'd just closed, the low whisper of his voice. She enjoyed the swirl of her new dress around her legs as she moved; so much lighter and more delicate than anything she'd ever worn before. She would have to thank Fran for his help with this lovely evening. "Van, what else could you pos-- ?" 

Her voice caught in her throat. She'd been smiling, a light tease of anticipation. She'd discovered she quite liked surprises, when they were from someone she loved. She felt her smile falter, her steps pause, her skin flush at the look in his eyes, so very steady, so intent, all his focus just on her.

She felt so warm when he looked at her like that, warm and precious. It ached somewhere in her chest where a heart should be; she liked that pain, low and sweet, and hoped it never went away. She felt... surrounded  when he looked at her like that, but it wasn't a trap, she wasn't caged, she was protected, safe and secure. 

She held herself still, watching him as he watched her. His gaze never wavered, a glint of light against the edge of the frame of his glasses barely trembling with his breath even as his hands moved. He carefully removed the ornate stick pins from his cravat and set them on the small table by the door. She swallowed, watching the shift of the cloth of his gloves over his knuckles, bending with his fingers as he unwound his cravat and laid it atop the pins, a crumpled pile of soft blue precisely the same shade as the stripes in her dress.

His shirt was loose now, and she could feel the blush as she tried to look and not look at the same time, the line of his throat framed by a pure white collar, a warm glimpse of skin all the way down to the top of his vest. She could see the hollow of his throat, the edge of his collarbone, the slightest shift of muscles across his chest as his arms moved.

She didn't know why that made her throat too tight, her head too light, the air too thin to breathe.

He smiled at her when she finally managed to meet his eyes. It was the smug look he got when he knew what she was thinking, when he knew she was thinking about him. She wanted to pout, to stick her tongue out at him, but his eyes softened, and his smile was sweeter now, and she knew she wasn't angry with him.

Would never be angry at him when they were like this, at peace, with an endless future before them.

She swallowed, made herself speak again. "A surprise?"

He lifted his hand, and she flinched back, but his eyes narrowed and she held herself still, could feel herself trembling, _no, no, get back, it's not safe --_

But then, the barest brush of his gloved finger-tips against her jaw, _no sizzle, no burning, no smell,_ and she couldn't breathe at all, if she had a heart it would have stopped, and her eyes burned and her mouth opened, but _he was touching her;_ she couldn't think of anything else.

She could feel a tremble in the gentle touch against her skin, _her skin, touching her skin,_ could see a shine in his eyes that even his glasses couldn't hide, and the faintest flush of pink across his cheeks. 

_How?_

She asked him with her eyes, even as she let her head tilt closer, even as his palm rested against her jaw, even as she started to take her first sharp shuddering breaths again.

"I asked Victor to treat my clothes as well."

Her eyes widened, and her gaze flicked down, the line of his coat and his vest, the sharp crease in his trousers, the gleam of his boots, and back up again, the thin stripes of his shirt, and she didn't know what she wanted, what it meant, what he meant... 

"Shh," Van whispered. His other hand cupped the other side of her jaw, and she could feel the tears prick but she blinked to keep them in. Blinked, _blinked,_ until the waver between her and the world was gone and she could see him again. Could see how close he was, how his glasses had slid down his nose as he stared at her over them, his eyes so warm, so bright. His lips were very slightly parted, and she could feel his breath against her face, _could feel his hands against her cheeks,_ his fingers holding her steady, holding her still, and she smiled.

Van smiled, and she felt like she was still on the roof of the palace, high above the sparkling lights, below the stars. Felt as if at any moment she would fly.

"Someday, I will kiss you, here." One hand slid, and his thumb traced gently along her bottom lip. She closed her eyes so she could focus on that, only that, on the soft shift of his hand against her mouth. "But until then?"

Cardia opened her eyes at the lift in his voice, the hope and the question, and her cheeks felt cold as his hands slipped away, the trail of fingers down her neck, shoulders, until he was holding her right hand between both of his. Van lifted her hand, and bent his head. He turned her hand in his, and kissed the center of her palm, and it didn't make sense but it was as if she could really feel his lips despite the glove between her and his skin.

He looked back up at her, the lines of his lashes framing his eyes, and she couldn't imagine what could make tonight better.

What could make the world better than this, right now.

He didn't smile, not again, but she saw the glint in his eyes. She had only half a breath to wonder, and then she felt the tug. She almost pulled her hand back, almost tucked it up tight against her, but no.

She didn't have to, not tonight.

She relaxed her arm, felt the way the fabric rubbed against her skin as Van slowly pulled it down, down, down until it slid past her fingers to the floor. 

She couldn't look away from his face, his eyes, so dark and focused, the faintest curl of his lips into something no one else would recognize as a smile, but she did.

She knew.

Her cheeks ached with her smile, her chest ached with each shuddering breath, but she didn't want those pains to ever go away either.

He pulled her hand closer, placed her palm against his chest, and she felt her breath in her throat get stuck with a soft _squeak_ and she wanted to pull away, wanted to keep him safe, but at the same time it felt so warm, his skin so close to hers, and she _couldn't_. 

She couldn't bear to let him go. Never wanted him to let go of her.

She could feel his heartbeat, an echo of her breath, uneven and hard and too fast. She spread her fingers and leaned into him until she could feel his heartbeat fill her palm, the hollows between her fingers. She could feel a low double thump half-way up her arm, a whisper of a vibration all the way to her chest.

She shuddered with it, and her eyes closed and she burned and she loved and she wanted and she couldn't and his hands were so strong and she couldn't stand, she couldn't fall, she couldn't, _she could, she could,_ she laughed, and her breath was so warm in her throat, and somehow they were sitting on the floor, his arms around her and her head against his shoulder and her skirt pooled around them covering the floor.

"Cardia," Van was murmuring above her, and she could feel his voice in his chest before she could hear the words, and his hand was stroking her hair, slow and steady, over and over.

"Abraham," she sighed. She could feel the shift of his collar as her breath moved across the base of his throat, and she saw him swallow. 

"No one has called me Abraham in a long time."

"I will." She nodded. She could feel the rub of his coat against her cheek as she moved, could feel the hint of a wrinkle caught between it and his vest, and she almost yelled, almost cried. She could hear the shiver in her voice when she spoke, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. "But only when we're like this, just us, alone together."

"I shall treasure every time I hear it." The hand stroking her hair moved, sliding it carefully behind her ear, following the trail of her hair to push it off her neck as well. She almost whimpered at the feel of his glove against the curve of her ear, a hint of fingertips against her skin.

She reached up with the hand that wasn't gloved, let herself touch his collar, let herself hold it between her fingers.

It was warm, warm from him, from resting against his throat. She couldn't make herself let go of his collar, of the warmth of his skin against hers, even indirectly. She lifted her other hand instead, until she could rest the tips of her gloved fingers against his throat, could feel the skin jump, could hear the hum edge the breath above her head. 

"I've never felt, never touched... "

"I know."

She leaned back against his arm, let her head fall back until she could look up at him, could see the way the light traced his cheeks, his jaw. Could see the gleam of the jewel on his glasses, the familiar shape of his hair framing his face, the gas light flickering somewhere above and behind them. "Is this what you meant?" _All the love I deserve..._

His eyes weren't just warm now, they were hot, hot against her face, her skin, and she remembered the feel of his thumb against her lip and tried to imagine the kiss he'd promised her. "Not yet. We're just beginning."

She lifted her hand, watched the way the dark fabric of her glove contrasted with his skin, his hair, until she could let her fingertips brush against his lips, _could promise some-day to kiss him back._ "I'm so glad."

"Are you?" There was a hint of tremble low in his voice, so fine she could have missed it, if it wasn't him, if she wasn't listening with all her soul.

"Of course." She smiled as he kissed her fingertips, so full of joy she was surprised she wasn't glowing brighter than the jewel in her chest. "Because that means we have the whole journey to do together."

His laugh was small, and warm, and his mouth was still but his eyes looked as happy as she felt. "My Cardia."

"My Abraham." 

She saw him blink, felt the strong lines of his arms holding her, around her back, beneath her legs. She tucked her head down against him, and she felt the barest brush of warmth on her head, a careful kiss upon her hair.

"My beloved," he whispered. Somehow he stood, a smooth straight glide up from the floor. She gasped, careful to grip his coat with her ungloved hand, careful to keep it safe.

To keep him safe.

"Always," she whispered into his shoulder, and she felt his arms tighten around her as he heard her. She closed her eyes, and let her head relax against his chest until she could hear his heart-beat, strong and steady, as he carried her to her room.


End file.
